This message is from: Linda Lottie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> oh dear, the horse is scarry. Maybe he should be confined to a smaller turnout by himself for a time. He seems rather herd bound (rushing to his buddy) . Also, if he is dangerous to lead to his pen.....again, putting him in a seperate turnout would calm things. Seems he has had some tough handling.....and that can be hard to fix.
Personally, I like ground work and working with horses that want to do things their way. I enjoy watching their brain accept me as leader. This guy with his biting at the halter, striking, rearing.......all totally not acceptable......back to the very beginning with him. No treats.....get a halter that fits well......and get rid of some of his energy.....whew! LJBL in WI ---------------------------------------- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To: fjordhorse@angus.mystery.com > Subject: RE: On-lead training > Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:35:48 -0800 > > This message is from: "Gail Russell" > > Now when they get insecure or crazy I get them AWAY from me, not closer. > When I lead them out of the trailer and I see them looking away from me, > eyes wide, head up, ears up, I yo-yo them away from me and only let them > back close to me, their herd, when their head lowers and I have their > attention. > > Apropro of our discussions: > > I just got back from holding a friend's off the track TB for the farrier. > It was an interesting experience...and one that makes me concur mightily > with the "get them away from you" approach to handling a crisis. > > I went to get this horse out of the pasture. I put his rope halter on him > at the gate to the arena, which I planned to cross . He was fairly quiet > while I put it on, but seemed to be wanting to bite at the halter, his > chest, and sometimes my hands while I did it. > > In the course of getting the halter on, I got it quite loose...down over the > end of his nose. That turned out to be a problem. > > I brought the horse thru the gate....which he went thru a little too > quickly....certainly not with total respect. > > As soon as he got through the gate, he started having a complete tantrum > about the halter being too low on his nose. I threw a rope loop at him to > back him off, as he was starting to strike with his foot (more at the halter > than at me) and to rear up. I had seen this happen before when this horse > was denied what he wanted (my friend has been working with him and working > on respect, but has been having problems with what appear to be hindgut > ulcers complicating his behavior...you never know whether you are "talking > to the horse" or "talking to the ulcers.") > > The horse was putting his forehead down in the sand arena, trying to rub the > nose loop of the halter off. It was loose enough that it went over his > nose, which is a good thing. By this time I had decided to let the lead go > rather than get into a pulling match with a crazed horse that was going up > and striking. Now he had the halter around his neck, with the lead rope > dangling. Having the loop off his nose made him a bit happier, and I was > able to get the halter off him entirely. > > After that he began bucking, rearing, pawing frantically and rolling > repeatedly. I began to worry that he was actually colicking, it was that > frantic. He would paw HARD, bend all four legs, and almost go down, then > collect under himself and jump UP, all four legs off the ground. I just let > him do it while I waited for the farrier to ask her if she thought we should > call a vet. > > Finally he quit, and went over to the fence where a buddy was standing. He > then began pawing the ground there, HARD. I went in and got between him and > his buddy and backed him off from the hole he was digging. AT that point he > started to soften, and chew a bit. > > In the end, I put his halter on, we did his feet and all was well until I > got him back to the gate. You could see that, as he walked back to the gate > back to his pasture, he started to get a feeling that he was entitled to > take over again. If he had been my horse, I would probably have released > him then and round penned him in the arena. I didn't because I did not > particularly want to risk my body, (and the farrier was waiting), and > because I had no such permission. > > This is a horse that my friend has done a lot with to try to teach him > respect. However, the respect only comes in certain contexts. In other > contexts he feels like he CAN (or possibly MUST) try to kill anyone who > tries to thwart his takeover). When he settles down, he settles right into > the soft, licking and chewing behavior of a freshly roundpenned horse. > Insofar as he goes this far, my friend can say that she has him > well-trained. But if things are not going his way in certain contexts, he is > VERY hard to deal with. > > If he were mine, I think I might try to teach him several alternative > behaviors with the clicker that I might be able to get from him in > situations where he wants to take over. > > Since many of his behaviors only occur outside a round pen, and since they > tend to be life threatening to the handler, and since he seems to have a > genuine sensitivity to being hurt/touched by halters and ropes....it seems > to me that teaching him to do things with the clicker would let him continue > to think he is in control and possibly control HIM without inducing > dangerous tantrums. > > This is the first time I have worked with a horse that I considered to be > dangerous. It was not fun. > > Gail > > The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: > http://tinyurl.com/rcepw The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw
